Horror Comedies With Bite

Posted by v-jtoyoshima

10 years ago

Lake Placid, which has been described as a combination of horror, comedy and suspense thriller, airs on AMC’s Fear Friday this week, with a repeat broadcast Saturday. It reminds me of a similar film that has become a cult classic over the last few years, Lewis Teague’s 1980 fun fearfest, Alligator.

Like Lake Placid, it’s as much a comedy as it is horror movie, and it was an unexpected success with the critics. What could have been a rather silly monster flick had, well, bite due to the smart, witty script by indie film icon John Sayles, who uses clever one-liners and movie in-jokes along with playful manipulation of horror movie conventions. It has a solid cast with Robert Forster, Robin Riker, and the one and only Henry Silva as a great white hunter out to bag the big gator, following smart direction from Teague, who later went on to helm Cujo. A cable classic of the early 80s, let’s hope we see this one turn up on disc some day.